Over the weekend, Cheltenham Town were ten minutes away from causing what would have been one of the biggest FA Cup shocks of recent memory as they lead Manchester City late on.
Unfortunately, Cheltenham’s unlikely win never came to fruition. But it got me thinking; what are some of the biggest shocks in recent FA Cup history? It seems like shocks in the FA Cup are definitely not as frequent as they used to be and this has not only made the beloved cup arguably too predictable, but it has robbed the cup of its magic.
So I decided why not take a look at four of the biggest recent shocks of the world’s oldest national football competition.
Chelsea 2-4 Bradford, 2015
We start with one of the biggest upsets of recent FA Cup history. Jose Mourinho’s Blues seemed unbeatable at this point back in 2015, especially at home. Mourinho had helped to oversee an astonishing 86 game unbeaten home run during his first tenure as Chelsea boss which just made this fixture seem all the more like a forgone conclusion.
However, that obviously wasn’t the case. The Bantams were 49 places lower than the Blues and they fell two goals behind, to make the task of progressing seem even more insurmountable. Bradford remarkably fought back to win 4-2 and knock the soon to be crowned Premier League champions out of the magical cup. The look on Mourinho’s face really was priceless and even now Bradford are held up as one of the greatest giant killers of our time.
Burnley 0-1 Lincoln City, 2017
Whilst the majority game itself might not have gone down as a classic, the result and how it was achieved will live long in memory. The fifth-round tie between Burnley and Lincoln City will always be remembered for Sean Raggett last minute winner which not only helped non-league Lincoln knock out Premier League Burnley, but it also made Lincoln the first non-league side in 103 years to the reach the competition’s final eight. Simply a phenomenal achievement.
Wigan 1-0 Man City, 2018
Here we have a very strange occurrence. I was really struggling to decide if to include Wigan’s 1-0 over Manchester City in the 2013 cup final, but instead I went for the game with the exact same result, but five years later.
I decided to go for the 2018 edition of this fixture because, even though Wigan’s victory in 2013 won them the whole competition, this was probably the bigger shock. The Citizens were well on their way to amounting 100 points in the league that year and at one point, the quadruple seemed like a real possibility. But we obviously know that because of Will Grigg’s 79th minute strike, Man City went tumbling out of the cup. I am very sure Man City fans were more than happy to see the back of The Latics after these two famous games.
Oldham 3-2 Liverpool, 2013
Liverpool had beaten Oldham 5-1 in the same competition in the previous year and many expected more of the same when they met in 2013. However, they were proven to be very wrong! The Liverpool side that day included the likes of Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez. Their efforts were to no avail though as Oldham would go onto sneak a five goal thriller and send their fans into clear hysterics. Another true David and Goliath story for the ages.
And there we have it. Four of the biggest FA Cup shocks in recent memory. Would you like to see more on FA Cup upsets? And do you think I have missed any big ones? Let me know in the comments and as always, for all things football, keep it on FanHub.
